1. Introduction:
City Development Strategy (CDS) unit, at the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI), has been established since 2005, with the support of the Cities Alliance, World Bank and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Over the past period, AUDI has helped several Arab cities to establish their own development strategies, including, for example, Aden, Amman, Alexandria and Sana'a and work is still under way in other cities.
In this context, AUDI held the symposium No (1) on city development strategies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the city of Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, during the period from 29 to 31 March 2009. Its objectives can be summarized as follows:
· Definition of the concept of city development strategy and the role it plays in the sustainable development.
· Areas with which this strategy deals, such as local economic development, improvement of slums etc...
· Presentation of expertise and experiences of some cities that have implemented this strategy in the MENA region.
· The idea of collective participation in the implementation of the strategy.
· What are the links, relationships and patterns of networking required to develop and activate the application of city development strategies in the MENA region?
The City Development Strategy is a plan of action to achieve equitable growth in cities. It is developed and sustained through participation, in order to improve the quality of life for all citizens.
The objectives of the city development strategy includes a collective vision of the city, preparing action plans aimed at improving governance and urban management, increasing investment to expand employment opportunities and services, and achieving systematic and sustainable decrease in the levels of urban poverty.
2. Strategic focus in City Development Strategies
The focus of most of the strategies developed for urban development is the need to achieve improvements in three areas which are closely related to each other, namely: local governance / management, achievement of economic growth on the local level, and poverty alleviation.
2.1 Governance / Management in Urban Areas
This includes the adoption of the principle of decentralization, which gives the local administration the right to take administrative and financial decisions and set and arrange priorities transparently, in addition to public accountability.
2.2 Economic growth at the local level:
This includes the city's competitive advantages that can be focused on or exploited to broaden its base of employment and support its revenue base to meet its programs and satisfy the aspirations of its citizens, thus reducing the urban poverty, which can be achieved in direct ways such as service delivery, fair pricing policies for basic services, etc., and indirect ways, such as access to information, the right to use facilities and opportunities and removal of legal impediments that have a discriminatory effect, where women are denied equal access to basic services, such as land tenure and access to credit and employment.
2.3 Improvement of urban and environmental planning of the city:
Throughout history, man has been linked to the spatial space around him. This correlation stems from his relationship and interaction with the surrounding environment and natural, economic and social factors. With the increasing population and their growing needs, urban planning in general has become a mirror of the economic, social, environmental, and developmental conditions of the countries. Sound urban planning takes into account all temporal and spatial variables as well as the present and future human needs, helps achieve the concept of sustainable development, that considers traffic and transportation services and environment preservation are one of its pillars and most important indicators. Since most Arab cities do not review these conditions from time to time, the urban planning and environmental problems have exacerbated, and the need as arisen to re-planning in order to develop solutions consistent with the status quo.
2.4 Improvement of slums conditions:
This is done through improving the basic infrastructure, providing social services, such as schools, health centers and recreational areas, and creating a local economic environment that enable the populations in those areas to find jobs. Above all, the rights of those people to own land where they live should be recognized, and then plans should be developed to meet the future housing needs of the natural reproduction of population of the city and the mass influx from rural areas.
3. Follow up the progress:
In general, the City Development Strategy should come up with important outputs, foremost among is agreeing on consistent vision and strategy through broad participation reflecting the highest degree of consensus. This vision should also reflect a clear strategy for local economic development and urban poverty reduction, implementing policies in favor of the poor. Also, this strategy must be translated through consensus into clearly defined action plans with a timetable obligatory on everyone, specifying those who are assigned to the implementation process, monitoring and follow-up mechanisms and the methods of accountability for everyone.
The following issues have been identified as essential in the follow-up of the city development strategy, in order to achieve success:
· Institutionalization of the city development strategy.
· Identify the impact of the strategy on poverty alleviation.
· Identify the overall impact of the strategy on the city economics, environment, planning, management etc...
Since the global perspective of the City Development Strategy, proposed by the World Bank and its partners in the nineties of the last century, to assist cities in solving problems arising out of the increasing population, growing urban poverty, etc.., and as it have been adopted by more than a hundred cities around the world despite the diversity of their geographical locations, cultures, economies, climates, governance systems, etc, it's apparent that the Arab world is the most reflective region for such diversities in the world, that obliges AUDI to deal with the city development strategies from a regional perspective, taking into consideration the cultural, social, political, economic aspects of the countries of the region.
Based on the above, some justified questions arise, including, without limitation the following:
· Degree of decentralization with all its political, economic, administrative, consequences, as well as its consequences with regard to decision-making mechanism, access to loans from foreign bodies, etc.
· The participation of all sectors of citizens in taking the decisions that affect their lives.
· Developing innovative solutions locally to deal with the phenomenon of slums, particularly land markets, providing basic and social services and the local economic development.
4. Objectives of the Symposium:
· The rate of implementation achieved by the Arab cities development strategies, and if they are not implemented, what are the main reasons behind it?
· If there are cultural, political or economic reasons, preventing the implementation of the city development strategy in the Arab world, what are the modifications that can be made to the strategy to fit the current conditions of the Arab cities?
· May the creation of ties and relationships with donors and patterns of networking among Arab cities on one hand, and between them and provincial and central governments on the other hand, help advance the implementation of city development strategies?
5.
Themes and the topics of the symposium
· Key-note speakers, who have worked in the areas of urban development in the Arab world and gained extensive experience in:
• Governance / management in urban areas.
• Local economy development.
• Improvement of urban and environmental planning.
• Slum improvement
· Reviewing the Expertise and experiences of the Arab cities that have established their own development strategies, and what are the difficulties and obstacles encountered during the different stages of implementation? Has the strategy achieved its fundamental objectives in the following areas?
• Participation of all segments of citizens in making the decisions affecting them.
• Institutionalization of city development strategy.
• Areas of focus and implementation rate.
• Impact on urban poverty alleviation.
• The overall economic, environmental, planning, administrative impact of the city development strategy
• The necessary amendments that have been made to the terms of the original strategy to fit the conditions of the relevant city.
6. Participants:
· The symposium addresses the following:
· Heads of the technical bodies, entrusted with designing the development strategies and implementation of projects emanating from it.
· Heads and administrators of city councils.
· University professors and professionals in related fields.
7. Expected impact:
Adopting a city development strategy that consistent with the conditions of the cities of the Arab world, culturally, socially, economically and politically, and that meet the needs of citizens and their leaders.
8. Expected results:
· Identify the strengths and weaknesses of city development strategy, within the framework of the Arab world.
·
Develop an objective analysis of implementation mechanisms of city development strategy developed by the World Bank and its partners, and make sure that it can be implemented in the Arab world.
Click here for: REGISTRATION FORM